One of the Haertling Boys

cordin g to our German Family Tree, eleven children were born to Oswald and Augusta (Pfeiffer) Haertling, and the first 10 of them were boys. It is reminiscent of the 9 boys that were born into a Dietrich family in Altenburg that were called the Altenburg Giants in a previous post. You will be reading about one of the Haertling boys in today’s article. He was the 2nd of those 10 boys, and he would be celebrating a special birthday today.Adolf Rudolf Friedrich Haertling was born on January 29, 1898, so today would be his 125th birthday. That also means he was born the day after yesterday’s main character, Teacher Albert Meyr. This boy went by the name Rudolf throughout his life. He was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. Let’s take a look at an image of his baptism record from that congregation’s books. For some reason, he just has the names of Adolf and Friedrich, but it does not have the name that he would be called during his life. Perhaps that name is the question mark that you see.

Rudolf is found in his first census in 1900 at the age of 2. At this time, the first 3 Haertling sons had been born. Rudolf’s father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township. When I saw that today’s surname was a Haertling baptized in New Wells, I thought it might be yet another person to grow up in the “Koenig-Koch-Haertling” neighborhood, but that was not the case.

Next, we find Rudolf in the 1910 census at the age when he would have been learning about his catechism in his preparation for confirmation. There were 8 boys in the family. The youngest boy, Erwin, would die in 1911 as a very young child. Rudolf, at the age of 12, was already working on his father’s farm. Even his 10 year-old brother, Herbert, was already called a farm laborer.

Rudolph had a World War I draft registration completed in 1918. It said he was living in Altenburg and was a farm laborer for G.H. Mueller.

Now, we will turn our attention to the woman who would become Rudolph’s bride. Her name was Emma Dorothea Bronnenkant who was born on October 24, 1900. She went by the name Dorothea or Dora. She was the daughter of Martin and Martha (Hecht) Bronnenkant. Dora was the first child of 4 born in this family and baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. An image of her baptism record is displayed below.

Dora was probably born too late in 1900 to be included in that year’s census, but I failed to find this Bronnenkant family anyway. The first census entry in which I find her is the one taken in 1910. Dora was 9 years old, and her father was a farmer in the Union Township.

Rudolf Haertling married Dora Bronnenkant on November 9, 1919 at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. The church record for this wedding is shown here.

The marriage license for this couple is also available to view.

The German Family Tree lists 4 children born to Rudolf and Dora. When the 1920 census was taken, they had yet to have their first child. We find this young couple living with Dora’s parents when that census was taken. Rudolf was simply called a laborer. Dora’s grandfather, Gabriel Bronnenkant, whose story was told in the post, When Gabriel Comes Marching Home!, is found in this household at the age of 80.

The 1930 census lists 2 children in the Haertling family. Rudolph was a farmer in the Union Township. A 17 year-old Elmer Meyr was a laborer on his farm. This is the 3rd out of the last 4 blog posts that has mentioned a Meyr.

Two more children were born in the 1930’s, so we find the following Haertling household in the 1940 census. Their oldest son was then old enough to be a laborer on his father’s farm.

Rudolf and Dora are found living in Frohna when the 1950 census was taken. Rudolf was a truck driver for a limestone company. His eldest son, Ellert, had married Mary Dambach, and both of those two were operating a tavern at that time.

Dora Haertling died in 1962 at the age of 61. Her death certificate gives cancer as her cause of death.

Dora is buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna.

At a later time in his life, the photo below was taken of Rudolf Haertling.

I suspect that Rudolf moved to Perryville some time after his wife’s death. He died in 1977, and a death index says his last residence was Perryville. He died too recently for me to display a death certificate. Rudolf is buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

So, today we say, “Happy 125th Birthday” to one of the Haertling boys. Maybe his many brothers will show up on this blog someday. And maybe his baby sister.